The Irish Football Association (IFA) has agreed a new partnership with Northern Ireland's leading independent bookmaker Toals Bookmakers.

The deal sees Toals become the official bookmaker of the IFA, the governing body for association football in Northern Ireland, as well as the Northern Ireland senior international football teams, the Tennent’s Irish Cup and the Match Intermediate Cup.

Established in 1932, Toals is a family-run independent bookmaker with a retail network of 50 branches across Northern Ireland, as well as an FSB-powered Toals.com online betting platform.

“We are pleased to be announcing this new commercial relationship with Toals, a local company who have a strong track record of investing in football,” said Gareth Williamson, business development manager for the Irish FA. “Toals are an excellent partner as they share the Irish FA’s vision of seeing football grow at all levels across the country. We look forward to working with them in the coming years and to sharing success both on and off the pitch.”

Toals director Gary Toal commented: “This is an exciting partnership which fits with the Toals brand. We are a local business and we are keen to support Northern Ireland football.

“This partnership allows us to invest in the local game played in footballing towns across the province. As the leading independent bookmaker in Northern Ireland, the association with the Irish FA and Northern Ireland football will boost our profile further.”